What is Worship?

**Dear readers, I have made some major edits to this post and removed all references to Lakeland because I feel they were unnecessarily divisive and distracted from the message in the post. I have also removed many of the comments. I apologize to those of you who spent a lot of time writing responses, but just know that it was those responses that prompted me to make these changes. Thanks! --Art--

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I'm what most Christians would call a "worship leader." I've been doing it for years--getting up week after week to play piano or keyboard or guitar, leading a large group of people in songs about God. It's not at all the New Testament model for singing songs; consider 1 Corinthians 14:26, "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."

According to Frank Viola and George Barna in their book Pagan Christianity?, choirs didn't come into being until shortly after AD 313. Then by AD 367, congregational singing was completely banned in order to keep the lyrics under the control of the clergy and avoid heressies slipping into the mix (which had become a problem). I wonder, could it be that there are heressies slipping into the mix of some of our songs today?

John Huss, who lived from 1372 until 1415, was one of the first to reinstate congregational singing and the use of musical instruments. In the Eighteenth Century, the Wesleyan revival in England made congregational singing even more popular. Much happened from that time on, but the major shift took place in 1962 when, according to Barna and Viola:

...a group of dissatisfied British church musicians in Dunblane, Scotland, tried to revitalize traditional Christian songs....The revolution came when rock and roll was adapted into Christian music with the coming of the Jesus movement....The origin of the worship team goes back to the founding of Calvary Chapel in 1965. Chuck Smith, the founder of the denomination, started a ministry for hippies and surfers....He gave the counterculture a stage for their music--allowing them to play Sunday night performances and concerts. The new musical forms began to be called "praise and worship."

Is this model evil? No, not at all. What is unfortunate, though, is that it has defined in our minds what it is to "worship"...and it's barely even half a century old! We think these songs have always been the definition of "worship," and we think this is the way it should be done. Thus we have dogma, pure and simple--a belief based on belief that has an air of holiness about it handed down from the previous generation.

Now remember, I am one of these so-called "worship leaders," and I thoroughly enjoy it. I'm not here to bash congregational singing, church models, or anything of the sort. I just want to help you to think critically about it all for a moment.

With all that said, I would like to share with you the words of renouned author Derek Prince in an article titled "Earthly, Soulish, Demonic--Protection from Deception:"

If you turn to Exodus 32, you will find something that always astonishes me. Here was the anointed and appointed High Priest making a golden calf. I want to analyze what it says in Exodus 32:1-10.

Moses at this time is up on the mountain. They have not seen him for something like forty days. So it says:

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

The very significant phrase there is "the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt." They had lost sight of God. They were focusing on human leaders. And I believe, almost inevitably, that will lead to idolatry. When we lose our vision of God and focus on God's servants we are in great danger. So,

Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, 0 Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" So when Aaron saw it [this is an amazing description - when Aaron saw his own calf], he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord."

To Yahweh. I mean, I find it hard to understand how Aaron could do that. But if Aaron could do it, you and I can do it. We are no better than Aaron. Probably most of us are not nearly of his caliber. Then it says:

Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

That is the essence of idolatry: play. When our worship becomes play, we have moved out of the spiritual into the soulish and, ultimately, into the demonic. I do not want to appear critical, but I have to say, to my understanding, most of what is called worship in the Charismatic movement is not worship at all. Often it is very self-centered: "God heal me. God bless me. God, make me feel good. God do this and God do that." It is ego-centric; it is soulish. Only the spirit can focus directly on God.

Much of the music that we have in church today appeals to the soul, stimulates the soul; it is very much the same kind of music as is used in the world to stimulate the soul.

I am no expert in music, absolutely not at all. I cannot sing a note in tune. But I have a certain sensitivity to the impact of music. Having lived five years in Africa, I am aware that certain repetitive themes and rhythms can deaden your sensitivity. If you sit under that long enough, especially when it is very loud, you lose the capacity to discern. And in Africa those rhythms are used to call up demons.

Why do I bring all this up? Am I saying that our "praise and worship music" is demonic? Remember, I lead such musical meetings, so that's not my purpose here. Rather, I want to disassociate the word "worship" from our musical, emotional expressions of song. And for that matter, I want to encourage you to be aware of what could be happening when we sing. Not all of our songs glorify God. Should we call this worship? How about the songs that DO glorify God? These weren't called "worship" until the 1960's. I would argue that these are "praise."

Worship is a condition of the heart whereas praise is an expression of that worship. One can worship while they praise; but it is also possible to praise without worshipping--we call that "flattery." We must check our hearts to see if we are worshipping God or flattering God when we praise Him in word or in song.

I spoke with a pastor friend of mine while writing this article, and he said, "Art, you have a knack for writing about something and making it appear as though you have that thing all figured out." He's right--I say that to my shame, not my credit. So here's my disclaimer: I have been personally guilty of "using" music for the sole purpose of stirring emotions and having fun. I have allowed "worship" to become "play" as Derek Prince put it so clearly.

But I'm realizing things. I'm seeing how the Biblical word for "worship" in Greek and Hebrew imply something far deeper than songs in a big gathering. Just because you sang three fast songs and two slow songs this Sunday does not mean that you worshipped in the least bit.

And I should also add a disclaimer that it's okay to have fun while you're praising God! Praise can be exuberant and exciting--it's good to direct our God-given emotions toward our Lord and Savior! But do not take the worship of your heart lightly--we must be utterly sober and serious about our humility before the Lord.

Praise songs often result in us getting swept into emotionalism as we praise our God. Again, this isn't evil--God gave us emotions so we could connect with Him on an emotional level. And it's perfectly alright to get swept into songs about God...so long as we don't lose discernment. But it's not worship...it's an expression of worship!

Again, I'm what many would call a "worship leader," and I'm okay with the title for the sake of people understanding what I'm talking about. But I know full well that what I do musically is sometimes more of a ministry to people's hearts than a ministry to God. Hopefully, my ministry to men's hearts will bring them into a place where they can minister to God on a daily basis through lives of worship. But if all I do is lead them in a few songs, I have not facillitated worship--all I've done is given them an opportunity to sing to God and either experess the worship already in their hearts or pretend to do so. Or else, perhaps, I have merely set the emotional tone for the sermon. Again, not evil--but also not "worship" by definition. There's a difference between "worship" and "praise."

In short, worship is a lifestyle of humility before God. It is to exalt Him in your actions, thoughts, decisions, and words. Yes, you can express your inner worship to Him by praising Him in song, but that is not "worship" in and of itself. Worship is a condition of the heart by which we live our spiritual lives prostrate before our King in utter humility. In everything we do, we seek to reveal Him (rather than ourselves) so that He may be glorified in the earth.

Let us examine our own hearts and see if we are living lives of worship! Remember, When God hears your praise, He hears the condition of your heart. Either you are worshipping Him, or you are just singing out empty flattery.

For His glory,
--Art--